Friday, 5 October 2012

House biscuits

I got this lovely french biscuit stamp a while ago, and decided to share my ultimate simple biscuit recipe. The thing I like best about this recipe is you can alter pretty much all the aspects of it and still get some pretty tasty biscuits!

You will need:

100g sugar (caster, granulated, demerera, dark brown, doesn't matter)

100g butter (or margerine, I used stork for these)

1 egg

200-220g of flour (it changes from time to time)

Anything extra you'd like to put in! This can include:

Spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves, allspice)

lemon zest

vanilla essence

peanut butter

cocoa powder

I try not to put things like chocolate chips or fruit in, because then the stamp doesn't work as well.

Preheat the oven to 180/gas mark 4

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat the egg, then mix in - add any extras at this point.

Sift in the flour bit by bit until you have a good consistency - not too floury because the biscuits will be dry, but not too sticky or the stamp will stick

Form the dough into a ball and put in the fridge for 30 minutes - DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. It makes the dough much easier to handle

Form the mixture into 9 or 10 little balls on a greased baking sheet, then stamp each ball down into a flat cookie shape

Bake for 8-12 minutes, until they are golden-brown. Enjoy!

The stamp I have says "Biscuits Maison" which means "Biscuits of the house" or "house biscuits", which is a nice concept I think! I like to have some about the house :)

The biscuit will keep in a tin for about 5 days, but mine never last that long! You can also freeze the dough for 1 month and whip up a batch any time you feel like it! Let the dough defrost thoroughly before stamping and baking it.